Most of the consulting and services providers have developed internal “knowledge management systems” to store the solutions provided for their clients. User interfaces are used to allow the consultants and/or other employees of these companies that deliver specific services, to access the knowledge management system for the reuse of such solutions. A solution specifically developed for one client can be reused ‘as is’, or it can be adapted to the specific needs of another client. The reuse of “know how” allows to save time and money.
One problem in providing consultancy and services solutions is that consultants are reluctant to reuse existing solutions stored in current knowledge management systems. The reuse and adaptation does not seem to be so easy, and the consultants are not really confident in the quality of the solutions they see in the databases. The consultants consider the knowledge management process as independent from their consulting and service provider activities.
One other problem in providing consulting and services projects, is the turn around time to assess the client's situation and to develop a proposal for a solution. Consulting and services projects generally start with an “assessment phase” where a consultant assesses the business situation and the needs of his client in management and organization. Once the assessment phase is completed, the consultant is able to prepare a proposal for a solution which will bind the client and the provider. To be competitive, the consultant needs to make a proposal as fast as possible. Therefore, turn around time of the assessment phase and time to build the proposal is of strategic importance for the consulting and service providers.